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Importing Contacts or Leads

Importing your contacts should come as a no-brainer, why else sign up for a CRM if it isn’t to manage your contacts from one central location. While the import is easy and fast, there are some things to consider when importing data into your CRM account.

Consider:

Making a new spreadsheetWhile you probably already have a file with all your contacts and their data, it probably contains additional columns or blanks fields that could disrupt your import process. To avoid any delays create a new spreadsheet where you will copy and paste your data too. You’ll need to save the spreadsheet as a CSV.

Add data & TestBefore you import your whole list, add only a few contacts or sample data and run an import test. Running an import test will allow you to see if the data was formatted correctly.Download our Sample Data to test

Adding columns for each Field TypeField Types are the headers the CRM will read such as Name, Last Name, Email Address, Address, Phone Number, etc. If you haven’t already mapped your CRM fields click here to learn how.

List Import

During the List Import process you will need to map your list fields.

In which the CRM will match your CSV/XLS file columns with CRM fields, so that your data gets to the right places in your new records.

You may find that some of your file column names are already matched fields correctly such as First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Address, Phone Number, etc.

Double check all fields, as some fields could be missing. it’s important to match them to the CRM field names or the data will not appear in your new records.

You don’t have to match all the CRM fields, but Last Name is required for contacts or leads.

Now that you have the basics down it’s time to import your data!

Importing

Select Contacts or Leads from the main menu.

Once on the Contacts/Leads Dashboard, click on the Add + button and select Import Contacts (Leads).

Select the file you want to upload.

Select whom to assign the contacts to if there are multiple users under the CRM account.

Select what to be done if there are duplicates.

If your list contains Organization records select Yes, Under “Create related Organization records”This option is only available for Contacts.

Once done, select the Next button.

On the mapping page, make sure that the organization field is mapped to the organization/company column in the file imported.

Click Save

Import process might take some time depending on the number of columns and records in the file. You will get an email confirming the import status.

Note:

Contacts with organizations already available in the Benchmark CRM account will be mapped accordingly.

No duplicate Organization will be created.

There will be a new organization created if there is not one available in the account.